The Reincarnated Princess Spends Another Day Skipping Story Routes: Volume 4

By Bisu, Yukiko and Tom Harris

Princess Rosemary von Velfalt knows that a pandemic is imminent, so she vows to find a countermeasure. She travels to the faraway land of Flanmer in pursuit of the Khuer, a secretive tribe with the medicine she needs. There’s just one hitch—Rosemary is abducted! In a twist of fortune, her kidnapper, Wolf, turns out to be the future chief of the Khuer. However, Wolf has his own objective: he wants Rosemary to become the master of his tribe.
Meanwhile, Rosemary’s younger brother, Johan, is studying abroad. Accompanied by the two polar opposite princes of Vint, Johan visits a border town and discovers something strange. The local lord has vanished from the public eye, and his son is too eager for the royals to leave. Rumors of sickly villagers abound, despite assurances to the contrary, and it’s up to Johan to uncover the mystery.
Enigmatic assassins, malicious conspiracies, and a ticking clock... Can Rosemary and Johan come together to prevent disease from shrouding the world in doom?

• Language: English
• Publisher: J-Novel Heart
• Release date: Jul 4, 2022
• ISBN: 9781718384040

Book preview

Prologue

To my dear Sir Leonhart,

How are you faring in this spell of hot weather?

There are a lot of rocks to trip you up around here, so watch where you’re walking.

Hellooo? Are you okay? Your legs are trembling like a newborn horse.

Although I have only just arrived in Flanmer, it feels like I haven’t seen your face in years. I know it’s too soon to feel homesick. I’m sure you’ll have a good laugh at me.

Hey, have you forgotten how to form words or something?

When I close my eyes, I can see the land I call home, so far away now. On the far bank of the river, amongst the sprawling field of pretty flowers, someone’s waving at me. It can’t be anyone I know, surely. But she seems so familiar... Ah, she’s—

She looks beat. Hey, she’ll pop her clogs if we don’t stop for a break.

Pull yourself together, Mary! Do you remember who I am?

"—my grandmother...who died...three years ago. Cough."

Mary!!!

The scared look on Wolf’s face was the last thing I saw before my mind blacked out and I shuffled off this mortal coil to be reunited with my late grandmother.

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Here, some water.

I took the canteen with trembling hands. With some assistance from the ever-helpful Wolf, I managed to raise it to my lips. I savored the refreshing feeling of the water trickling down my esophagus, and as I was drinking, choking occasionally, my brain finally got back to work.

I’m alive again...

You were never dead, Rose, I mentally corrected myself. And what’s my grandmother who died three years ago supposed to mean anyway? My Hidden World grandparents both passed on before I was born, and my Japanese grandmother was fitter than I was. In fact, she’d actually outlived me.

"It’s great that you’re back to being a human. That weird khhh phhh way you were breathing had me worried for a minute there."

Yep, I agree. I sounded like D*rth Vader. And I know I seemed pretty far removed from the human race, considering that my legs were quaking and I was panting too much to speak. But I can hardly be blamed for that, now, can I?

Palace life hasn’t built me to climb mountains. I’m just a frail little girl...

With my head lowered, I could see the view behind me—red earth and the trees of the forest stretched across the foot of the mountain. And beyond that, the horizon. Presently, I was halfway up a mountain in the southwest part of Flanmer. In other words, I was participating in a much-loved pastime: mountain climbing.

How did it come to this?

The Viscount’s Daughter Reminisces

The sounds of activity had died away, leaving the mansion perfectly quiet.

Most had given in to sleep, including the injured patients who’d finished their treatments and the carers who’d treated them. The noble boy and a few of the sailors had gone for a discussion with the town’s representatives.

I was exhausted as well, but I was putting off sleep. Instead of resting, I washed my face and then took a stroll around the estate. My legs brought me to the door of one particular room.

Several times, I almost knocked on the door, only to hesitate and stare at it in silence. When I did finally knock, a reserved voice immediately called out to me from inside.

I placed a hand on the doorknob, but it wouldn’t turn. Not because it was rusted or for any other physical reason, but because my lack of courage was robbing me of strength.

I took a deep breath and twisted harder. The door creaked open.

A bed had been set up in the room, and a man who’d been on the verge of death just a few hours prior was sleeping upon it. Another younger man was sitting on a simple chair by the bedside, watching over the sleeping man. A thick book rested on the young man’s lap, likely supplied by someone to help him pass the time.

The young man raised his head. Bianca, he said, not appearing surprised.

Can we talk a little? I asked nervously.

Michael, my little brother, put on a modest smile and nodded.

I shut the door behind me and stepped inside the room. There was an open space at the foot of the bed near Klaus, the sleeping man. I sat down.

When I did, Michael frowned at me. Sister. His tone was critical this time.

I reached out a hand to calm him down. It’s fine. It’ll take more than this to wake him up.

Klaus had pushed his body and mind right up to their breaking points, so he’d be out for a full day, at least. In fact, it would’ve been far more shocking if he had woken up.

Michael didn’t chastise me any further, so he must’ve agreed.

His face seemed more mature now, and I wasn’t sure how to feel about that. Was I happy or sad? I couldn’t put it into words. He’d even combed his bangs back so they didn’t cover half his face like they used to. That small change gave him a completely different appearance. The bags beneath his eyes had vanished, as had the frightened little animallike look in his eyes. Those eyes, a blue so dark that they were almost black, now appeared calm and tranquil.

You’ve turned into quite the man now, I said softly.

Michael smiled wryly. I don’t think so. I’m pretty much the same as always.

I almost returned the same smile. No, you’re not. You’ve changed so much. For instance, you’ve learned how to speak your mind without stuttering. And don’t you realize that you’re looking me in the eyes while you’re talking to me?

His personality had undergone just as radical of a change as his appearance had, but I decided against pointing that out to him. It was half because I didn’t want to upset him, but the other half of me was just being an indignant child; I didn’t want to acknowledge the fact that he’d changed without me knowing.

Let me start again, I said. It’s been a while, Michael.

It has, Bianca. I’m sorry for not finding the time to come and visit you.

You should be, I said teasingly. What a heartless little brother I have. Makes me wanna cry.

Michael’s expression became troubled.

He’d run away from our home and hadn’t come back, not even once, in the entire time he’d spent as a priest-in-training at the Great Temple. It made sense that he hadn’t visited after entering the palace—being an apprentice sorcerer had fettered him with all sorts of restrictions. But when he’d been a priest-in-training, he would’ve only needed to submit a simple application... That would’ve allowed him to return home once a year. The fact that he hadn’t done so meant he simply hadn’t wanted to visit.

I could understand why he felt that way. Our home held only bad memories for Michael. Children born with magical powers often faced rejection from their parents. While our parents were no exception to that rule, that didn’t tell the whole story.

***

My father had a lover. She wasn’t a quick fling either; they’d been together since he was a child. If she’d been of a higher class, then she likely would’ve been the one to become my father’s wife, rather than my mother. The lover lived on the grounds of our estate, and she was a purehearted maiden, adored not only by my father but by the servants as well.

As such, the Diebolt House was no home for my mother. Her health deteriorated day by day. She envied my father’s lover but was too timid to do anything about it, so she let her feelings build up inside with no release. Her only support came from the handful of maids who’d accompanied her when she’d moved away from her family’s household. Before long, my mother began to spend her days entirely within her own bedroom, rarely even leaving her bed.

The lover and my father had a son. He had been legitimized because of my mother’s failure to produce any children for her husband, but even so, he was still considered to be of common birth. The adoption of a bastard as my father’s heir didn’t sit well with many of my family’s friends and relatives. Some even began to blatantly disassociate themselves from my father, leaving him almost without friends. He must’ve panicked.

But, that all changed when my mother became pregnant.

Although the baby turned out to be me, a girl, my father did begin to pay my mother more attention and visit her more often. Actually, that phrasing wasn’t exactly appropriate—she was his wife, so he returned to her.

And then, the following year, Michael was born. My father and the servants both rejoiced at the long-awaited arrival of a trueborn heir. Those were most likely the happiest days of my mother’s life.

However, that joy was short-lived.

Robbed of her beloved and distraught, my father’s lover suffered an emotional breakdown. After that, my father spent most of his time by her side, unable to abandon the woman he’d always loved. But, he wasn’t able to completely set my mother aside either, and so he’d turn up every so often to keep her happy. Even as a young girl, I was disgusted by the way that my father played both sides. Perhaps my distrust of men stemmed from this episode.

I swore to myself that I’d protect my mother and my brother in my father’s place. I doted on Michael most of all... He truly meant the world to me. My mother mostly confined herself to her bed, so I was the one who spent the most time with him. As such, I was also the first one to notice his powers.

If I recall correctly, it happened in spring, the year when I turned six. I pricked myself with a rose thorn while playing in the garden. Blood trickled from my finger, but it wasn’t me that burst into tears at the sight—it was Michael. He then took my hand in his. With his child’s lisp, he recited over and over, Pain, pain, go away! I found his desperation adorable. It made me so happy.

I would’ve smiled and said, "It’s all better now," to appease his heart.

I would have.

But I couldn’t. Because, when I looked, there was no cut on my finger. The blood was still there, but I saw not even a trace of the broken skin that should’ve been beneath it.

I couldn’t make sense of it. I examined each of my fingers, figuring that I was looking at the wrong one, but there was no wound. A cut large enough to draw blood had vanished in an instant. Even a small child like me knew how abnormal that was.

Did you do that? I asked Michael.

As a test, I pricked another finger with a thorn and asked Michael, Can you make it better for me? He made the cut disappear. My eyes weren’t playing tricks on me, and I wasn’t misunderstanding things either.

Michael seemed unsure of himself, but I pulled him into a hug, smiled, and thanked him. Then, I made him promise not to use his powers in front of anyone else.

Michael’s magic evaded detection for the next few years. Whenever father made one of his infrequent visits to our mother, Michael desperately tried to bring the two of them together. Perhaps he knew that he was the only one who could keep their nearly broken marriage from collapsing entirely. With a bright smile, he jumped from one topic to another, trying to keep the faltering conversation from dying out. That couldn’t have been easy for someone as timid and reserved as Michael.

One day during all of this, my mother hurt herself just as I had—a finger pricked by a rose thorn. I can’t blame Michael for what he did next; he probably just wanted to make her smile. He must’ve thought he’d get affection and thanks from our mother and father, just as he had from me.

Instead, when he healed her finger, he was subjected to hatred, fear, and an outburst of rage.

My father cursed Michael as a monster and declared that he couldn’t be his son. He then turned on our mother, accusing her of consorting with a beast to conceive Michael.

After that, my mother stopped leaving her room entirely, as she was too afraid of her own son. She cried and wailed, broke down, and eventually wasted away entirely. She died in that room.

Left on his own, Michael blamed himself. This young child groveled at my feet and begged me for forgiveness... For taking my mother from me, for causing our father to leave.

But it wasn’t his fault. What crime could this sweet young boy possibly have committed? He’d only wanted to make everyone smile. He’d only wanted to hear someone thank him. However, my countless attempts to reassure him that it wasn’t his fault...never reached his heart.

He developed a stooping posture and grew his bangs out, as though he were trying to hide away from the watchful gazes around him. He rarely left the house and wouldn’t speak, even with the servants. I became his sole conversation partner.

Our father let us stay in his mansion, fearing the bad publicity that would follow if he kicked us out, but he refused to take any part in our lives. He didn’t even assign us teachers, which led to me growing up somewhat eccentric, at least as far as nobles went. That didn’t bother me though. I was planning to leave that house soon enough anyway.

I didn’t have a husband lined up, so I figured that I’d go off and join a convent.

Michael’s departure from our house, without even a word to me, had come as a shock. Ultimately though, it had been for the best.

As I gazed upon the grown-up Michael before me right now, I became certain of that.

***

Hey, Michael?

Yeah?

You don’t regret it? I didn’t say what it was, but I was sure that he knew exactly what I meant.

He had used his powers to save Klaus—powers he’d kept a secret his whole life. His abilities had given him nothing but trauma; they’d driven his parents apart after he’d worked so hard to keep them together. Using his magic had probably caused him unbearable emotional agony, and I doubted that the mental scar left by his own father calling him a monster had healed yet.

Even so...

Michael let out a soft chuckle. He smiled sincerely, a kind look in his eyes. Have you spoken to the princess, Bianca?

Little brother, tell me... When did you learn to smile like that?

I didn’t manage to immediately connect the word princess with the young girl I’d befriended on our voyage, so my response came after a brief pause. Oh, of course. Mary and I are best buddies, I said jokingly.

Mary was a charming girl, wise and mature, but she still had an adorable nature common to girls her age. She didn’t act pompously; if anything, she was easy to get along with. She didn’t feel like royalty, even though I’d found out that she was. But, it was strange—she’d verbally bested the townsfolk who’d tried to turn us away, and when I recalled the image of her like that, I could picture her as royalty.

Oh, you have, said Michael.

Yep. You think I’d let a cute girl like that get away?

Michael smiled gently. You’re right. She’s exactly your type.

I thought a princess had stepped right out of a picture book. My fanciful way of thinking was a little embarrassing, but it wasn’t a million miles distant from the truth. Reality could, at times, be stranger than fiction. And she’s as adorable on the inside as she is on the outside. She really surprised me. I mean, she’s so pretty that nobody can take their eyes off her, but she doesn’t behave at all like she’s better than the rest of us.

Yeah, Michael agreed. She’s amazing. She doesn’t act like a big deal, but she is.

That was an odd way to phrase it, but I knew what he meant. Mary didn’t look down on anyone. She treated nobles and commoners equally and with the utmost sincerity. At the same time, she had no qualms about utilizing her royal identity to stand up for others. She possessed those two seemingly mutually exclusive qualities in equal measure.

She doesn’t overuse her royal authority, he said, but she does everything to fulfill her duties. She’s a girl that’s even younger than me, but she doesn’t have to force herself and overreach... No, it all comes naturally to her. She amazed me. And at the same time, she made me feel embarrassed about the way I was.

His face scrunched up like he had a terrible taste in his mouth, and I didn’t know what to say to him.

Michael...

I have a unique ability that other people don’t. It might not be the easiest power to use, with all its restrictions, but it’s still a blessing... It can help people. But I only ever thought of it as a curse. Michael lowered his head and clasped his hands together. I thought that if I tried to help, I’d be shunned... That I couldn’t make anybody happy by healing them. That they’d say, ‘Get away from me, monster.’ So I told myself that I’d be better off not using it, that I could help people without relying on my power.

I couldn’t accuse him of acting paranoid. The citizens of the Kingdom of Nevel were tough on magic users. People ostracized oddities. That was an instinct necessary to avoid danger and ensure a long life, and it couldn’t be reasoned with. If Michael had used his powers to help people, I couldn’t imagine that every single person he saved would thank him for it. In fact, I expected that most of them would be fearful.

But it doesn’t matter what my rationale was, he said. I was just looking the other way. I was turning my eyes away from lives that I could’ve saved.

But... That’s not...! "That’s not true!" I tried to say, but the words didn’t come out.

His eyes still pointing down, Michael slowly shook his head. It is. Maybe somewhere out there in the world there’s someone who caught a cold and died, or someone who lost their life after their wound festered. I could have saved them.

You can’t save everyone in the world! Don’t mix up ideals and reality!

I know. But the only ones who have any right to say that are people who’ve tried.

I had no rebuttal for that.

Michael kept going, continuing his explanation. "At least, I don’t have the right to say that. All I ever did was shut my eyes, curl up into a ball, and wait for everything to pass. Moreover, the princess would never claim that ‘you can’t save everyone.’ If there were a loss of life that she could’ve prevented, perhaps by being more skilled, she wouldn’t be caught dead saying ‘that’s just how things go.’" Michael raised his head. His eyes looked as calm as a lakeshore on a windless night.

I looked intently at him while remembering the princess. Her eyes had been just as calm.

When faced with the possibility of someone dying in front of her, Mary had cried and been shaken, but she’d never come close to giving up. She’d summoned every ounce of the courage that had almost faded from her, had gritted her teeth, had stood up.

If, hypothetically (and I shudder to consider this, even with that qualification), Klaus hadn’t made it...what would Mary have done? Would she have said that there was no helping it? Would she have tried to comfort herself by declaring that ideals don’t always work in real life?

No way. And if anyone had tried to console her with those same words, she would have disagreed. She wouldn’t try to validate her own actions as the best that she could’ve done but would’ve instead blamed herself for being powerless. She’d save all the culpability for herself and wouldn’t apportion any to the rest of us.

When you’ve chosen your path, you don’t pin the blame on others, Michael said. You accept what happens, even if it doesn’t go well, or if your efforts are in vain. I’ve finally decided that I want to be like that. His expression was calm, his voice soft. "I’ve decided to tackle things head-on, no matter who rejects me or despises me for it. I’m weak, so I was sure that I’d waver, but I’ve made up my mind—I will not give up. But..."

The corners of Michael’s eyes crinkled. A faint blush rose to his cheeks, and then he happily continued on. "There have also been plenty of good things that I hadn’t expected. I’ve made a friend. I’ve found a teacher. Miss Irene, the Head Sorceress in the royal palace, is strict, but she’s so nice. She’s always looking out for me. And my friend, George... He was shocked when he found out about my powers, but it didn’t make him dislike me. He said it was just part of who I was. I’ve never actually shown him my magic, but I have faith now that he wouldn’t think